twocosmicfish
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Posts posted by twocosmicfish
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I realized after I commented on this that my knowledge is really in the humanities. I know that in the humanities at least, you should shoot for a doctorate, because while teaching jobs in universities are available for masters degrees, you will hardly ever get tenure without a doctorate and publications. I actually agree with you about the masters degree in CS, I know people who are making plenty of money with just the BS. Most who went back again were going for an MBA so that they could branch out a bit more in their work.
Science and engineering often hire a few people with industry experience and a masters degree to compensate for the huge number of professors they have with a PhD but no time in industry. Again, these are usually lecturer or instructor positions only, although there are exceptions - at least one Assistant Professor at my undergrad had a masters. The downside is that these positions lack both the privileges of professors (esp. tenure) and the salaries of industry.
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3.00 is the bare minimum at most schools, so you barely clear the bar (not counting your semester abroad). GRE's will help, but the biggest factor is research, as evidenced in your publications (if any), SOP, and LOR's.
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In the sciences, doing a post-doc is almost as necessary as earning a Ph.D. Doing a post-doc seems to be less important in some engineering disciplines, though.
I asked this question of an engineering professor (and potential advisor) - his response was that US citizens never do post-docs in engineering because there are too many good opportunities compared to the life of a post-doc. International engineering PhD's do post docs because (1) it lengthens their study in the US, (2) lets them have a more directive and supervisory role than they did as a grad student, and (3) gives them more to hang their hat on during faculty applications.
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I have been accepted to an awesome PhD program. I have accepted their offer. It appears to me...a match made in heaven.
Since I have accepted their offer I am constantly at a worry that I will mess something up and they will rescind their offer.
Is this possible? Is there anything I could do to blow this. I know this probably sounds like an entirely irrational fear.
Has anyone ever heard of a school rescinding their offer of admissions?
It is fairly normal - it just means your ego does not yet own you. It's a good thing.
Schools do not generally rescind offers of admission unless there is fault or fraud on your part. If you fail to graduate from your current program, or if it turns out that you made significant-pause kind of errors in your application that they catch - then they will rescind their offer. It has happened occasionally that schools have sent out "accidental" acceptances that they then rescinded, but it has (to my knowledge) always been at the undergrad level where it is less of a personal decision and mistakes can slip through.
Remember that grad admissions is very individual and personal - make contact with your prospective advisor and tell him/her how exited you are to be coming. If there is any error, that person will know and will bring it up.
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Thanks for the input twocosmicfish. Will definitely check Falk Realty out. One last question, how much should I be expecting to shell out for half decent acco near the uni. All I need is a room to myself and a loo.
Nowadays, I would expect to pay $500+ a month for an efficiency, $600+ a month for a 1-bedroom. You could find nicer for an extra $100, but you will not find anything cheaper from an apartment complex. You could drop that by $100-200 if you do not mind sharing a bathroom and renting a room in a house - there are a bunch of houses rented out to students a room at a time.
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It sounds like you made a very common mistake in the application process: you applied to schools to which you would not be happy going. You are now in the awkward position of having only been accepted to a school you really do not want.
There are really three big issues here: (1) Where you will be able to study the subject of your choice, (2) where will you be happiest and most successful during grad school, and (3) which school will get you the job you want?
(1) If you still want to remain a modernist, you either need to go with your current option or else defer to next year with na improved package. If you were waitlisted at those schools you were at least in serious consideration, so you may need only a small improvement to clear the bar. You will need to have some serious discussions with your advisor and (preferably) advisors at your schools of choice to see if this is realistic. It does sound like you could switch focus and be admitted next year, but only you know how important the specificity of your field is to you.
(2) With your background, are you going to be happy and successful at your current school? While they will likely shower you with attention and assistance, will you still feel like you "lost", especially a decade from now? Remember that you will get one chance only to change your mind - bailing out after the masters - but once you have your degree, there are no do-overs. Make sure you get it right, or you'll wind up that bitter guy who never got what he wanted.
(3) Whether you want to go into academia or not, you need to know where you want to go and which shcool will get you there. A PhD in humanities from an Ivy will usually take you whereever you want to go, even in areas only peripherally related to your thesis. A PhD from a state school, especially one without a strong rep in your field, means a harder time getting a job from anyone not familiar with your thesis. So it is not just about placement rate, but more about placement distribution - where do the grads go?
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My masters is non-thesis, I did it part time on the company dime. It certainly does not help as much as a thesis masters, but it does not inherently hurt you.
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Hello twocosmicfish and TKassis,
Thank you for your replies. Both of you are going to great schools. Congratulations on that.
Since you are all set in getting to your graduate school, could I ask both of you about your stats? How much GPA and GREs + research experience you guys had to be able to get into such great schools?
Thank you very much in advance.
Best Regards,
Sugiri
My info is on the third page of the 2009 Applicant Profiles thread.
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My friend is a grad student there and she lives in Turtle Creek: http://www.toftreesapartments.com/. They have pretty nice two bedroom places and they are on a bus line that runs right to campus (and to a grocery). Her roommate has a bike and she bikes to campus, even during the colder months, so it is definitely doable to live there and not have much use for a car. There are also no undergrads there, and it's in the middle of a resort, so it's a nice place to live.
I will again recommend talking to Falk Realty, especially for Colony Apartments - it is right downtown next to campus, and while it is in the same area as some undergrad apartment buildings Falk itself does not rent to undergrads - the building is pretty quiet.
Toftrees is very nice, but it is a little further out and pricey - as you noted it is on the local golf "resort".
Bellefonte is unmanagable without a car and difficult with one - just too far away.
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UIUC
in 2009 Archive
Just finally pulled the trigger - UIUC or bust!
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Any recommendations for family housing in the area? I am interested in a small house or large (2+ bedroom) apartment, and am not sure where to go / avoid.
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You mean .. I can earn more money if I choose Columbia? :?
Probably, but nothing is guaranteed. Most of the schools that are offering the higher-paying jobs in any industry start at the schools that have (a) the best rep in the overall field and (
match their specific needs. Not knowing your specific field and who needs it for what, I can only say that on average high-value offers are more likely to come to Columbia. -
I would recommend that you avoid campus housing - its small, regulated, noisy, and expensive.
Unfortunately, that describes most student housing in the area. Being a small town, MOST apartments are sold towards a captive student customer base that lacks them jack up prices and keel-haul you on checkout. My wife spent 2 days cleaning her Lion's Gate apartment and was still torn up for $500 off her deposit.
I would recommend Falk Realty from personal experience - I stayed in Colony Apartments for 3 years, the apartment was great, location was really good, rent was low... just cannot say enough good things about the place. They do not generally rent to undergrads, so it is also a bit quieter. It has been a few years - I left that apartment in 2001 - but I have heard it has not really changed.
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Did you get funding at either school? Or at least the chance of funding down the line? I would never recommend a PhD program unless you had a reasonable expectation that you would be funded over the majority of it.
Do you want the PhD? You mentioned doing business as well, and if you make that switch down the road the PhD is not really much help.
If you (a) want the PhD and (
think an RA/TA slot will pop up in next year, go for Columbia. If you just want the masters, UMich is a stronger program, and if you are going to be unfunded it is better to get a quick but high-quality masters and reapply for PhD's in a couple of years.This is all assuming that you really have no preference in the strength of the advisors and the areas of research at the two schools, since that should always be the dominant factor.
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Typically, a masters degree adds between $10-20k to the undergrad value, and the PhD another $10-20k after that. $50k with an MS is very reasonable after UPenn, should be a cakewalk after Columbia.
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What do you mean by a "generous but largely ornamental fellowship" ?
I mean that the fellowship is generous, but they knew when I applied that I already had a more generous funding source. Since there is only about a 20% chance I would be in a position where I would choose to take it (which they knew from my app) it is not really useful.
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Okay, I am in a pretty good spot, all things considered. US citizens going for engineering PhD's are now few enough that my defense contractor employer is going to pay my way through grad school.
Upsides:
They pull full tuition, fees, books, etc.
Keep my benefits
Get 50-60% of my base pay (well above the most generous RA/TA positions or fellowships)
Potential housing stipend above and beyond salary
Downsides:
I will be expected to maintain an average of 20 hrs/wk doing company work besides being a full-time grad student. Kind of like being a TA, in theory.
I will periodically need to appear at a company facility... more on this later
I will incur an obligation to stay with the company for a number of years past graduation
This is all subject to a whole seperate approval chain through my company
Schools:
PrivateU is located near a company facility, is the alma mater of the boss that made this all happen, does very interesting work, and offered me a generous but largely ornamental fellowship. PrivateU is less prestigious in engineering (if higher overall), has a higher cost of living (my income is invariant), and will take longer to complete, but is still very much a possibility for me. PrivateU wants some advance notice of my April 15 decision so that they can award the fellowship elsewhere - quite reasonable and understandable.
PublicU is located 2 hours from the nearest facility (making weekly meetings an impossibility), also does very interesting work, is more presitigous, faster, and much more affordable. It is also the school to which my wife would like to apply next year. PublicU's problem is mostly the remoteness - much of my work I can do from home, but I would probably need to make that drive every week or two for meetings and classified work. PublicU did not offer me any funding - I was ineligible for TA because I have a masters already (odd policy), did not get a fellowship, and my advisor is still sorting out potential RA funding. Should not be an issue...
The Issue: My company approval process.
Although I was given a verbal go-ahead for the apps, I did not get all of my decisions until a few weeks ago, and could not visit until last week. I have put in the paperwork for PublicU through my chain of command, but the VP who needs to approve it is gone for the week - the best I can hope for now is to get a decision on 4/13. I will not know (1) if I can even go and (2) if I will get a housing stipend.
If the VP says yes to PublicU, I am golden. If the VP says no to PublicU (because of the remoteness) I either stay at work or go to PrivateU. If I do not get the housing stipend I may want the fellowship, as the difference in income is not worth the workload.
So to recap: I will not know until 4/13 where I can go to school and if I will need the fellowship. I have a professor who is asking me for advance notice that I cannot give, so I can either take a blind leap and possibly screw myself, or else hold fast until 4/13 and probably screw someone else out of a fellowship opportunity.
Any suggestions? I am mostly venting, but would appreciate advice on the screw others vs screwing yourself issue.
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And unless someone is going to school in the South or a religious university like Jerry Falwell's Liberty - I don't really think this is an issue anymore.
Just like whether someone is black or Jewish isn't an issue? The question is never "Are there bigots around?", it is "How MANY bigots are around, and how many of them will have a beef with me?"
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My last $70 million program? We went after two guys from UCF and one from Michigan.
Every school produces experts in some areas, and no school covers everything. The only real advantage of the big schools is that their name and resources allow you to tackle more widely applicable problems - no guarantee you will succeed.
Go whereever you get excited. That is the path for success.
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I'm an EE in electromagnetics and I came from a top 50 school undergrad GPA of 3.7. When I app'd to grad school I had a job starting about $20,000 over the national average so I didn't study for GRE's or anything. I got a 750 and the verbal is embarassing. Lets just say below 500. In any event, having a strong work record seemed to be very important for me. I worked full time for 2 years during undergrad (My undergrad is #1 in the country for co-op/internships). The work experience there is what I think got me into some really good programs. For my field Georgia Tech and Ohio State are pretty big names and I got accepted with an RA to both, as well as various offers elsewhere. I didn't apply to anywhere in California or MiT.
Long story short, if I were you I'd try to see if there's something that would make you more appealing as an incoming researcher. I learned how to use some 3D computational electromagnetics tools at my job that a lot of undergraduates have little to no experience. I for sure explained in detail what I did with these tools at my job to give me an edge over kids who might have better GPAs but could have less impact in initial research. If you can coorelate your summer work this year with something that relates to a specific school or research group it could help.
Also, it's good to apply to lower tier schools to use them as barganing chips. I told one school that I had an RA at a higher ranked school and got offered a fellowship. It was only for a year but it's great for the CV. Especially with this economic climate, it's a lot more competive to get into a school now than a 2007. Way more applications coming in.
Hope this helps a little bit.
Vannik,
I am also interested in CEM - where are you going this fall?
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Just as a quick note, the new adminstration likes Harvard grads - HKS may provide a good set of contacts for future employment, provided you graduate during this administration...
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I only applied to 3 schools - I was accepted by my "probably" and "maybe" schools, but was rejected by my "probably not" school, so I guess that counts for "as expected."
That does not mean there was not unreasonable dissappointment, of course.
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Can anyone give some reviews on apartment communities? Such as Parkway Plaza, Lion's Gate, Nittany Gardens, Allenway..... I've been checking out housing and I'm getting a little overwhelmed.... They've all got pretty websites and everything looks nice, but I think some comments from people who've really lived there would be more helpful.
I would avoid Lion's Gate if possible - somewhat shabby and they rake you over the coals when you leave (i.e. kiss your deposit goodbye). Parkway plaza is a little better, and Allenway seemed really nice. Never went into Nittany Gardens. I heartily recommend Falk Realty's Colony Apartments - lived there 3 years, best apartment and best treatment I ever had.
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1)Since I am only an undergraduate student, so will I be able to earn MS degree on the way to my PhD at USC?
Most programs have some method for making the MS available to PhD candidates en route to their doctorate. You may need to do some additional work, but many schools award it automatically if you reach a certain point in the PhD program. Check with USC for their own procedure.
2)Will it be a wise decision to reject the MS offer from UIUC because if i accept it, i will have an option of taking/not taking PhD later on. Whereas, if I accept the PhD offer from USC, will I be able to leave in the middle (and get an MS degree) in case i get disenchanted from research?
You ALWAYS have the option of leaving your program. Most schools will allow you to receive an MS if you have completed an appropriate amount of work. Some are even famous for it: The only ways to get an MS in engineering at MIT are (1) by doing an integrated undergrad/grad program or (2) by dropping out of the PhD program.
Help me decide
in Decisions, Decisions
Posted
Make the jump. It sounds like you have a reasonable expectation of funding after your first year, and the difference in income across your career will probably well exceed a semester or two worth of loans. This is all assuming that the top-10 school is also better at your specific subfield than your current school - otherwise I might swing the other way on this decision.